


fighting with my family

by thepalebluedot



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, the lost hero scene rewrite hehe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28135359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepalebluedot/pseuds/thepalebluedot
Summary: A rewrite of the scene in The Lost Hero where Thalia and Jason reunite except it's slightly more violent.
Relationships: Jason Grace & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace & Thalia Grace
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	fighting with my family

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to mel thejudgingtrash ([tumblr](https://thejudgingtrash.tumblr.com/)/[ao3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejudgingtrash)) for prompting this ily
> 
> the hunters are a little more feral in this because they're a bunch of preteen/teenage girls they deserve to be violent and also I thought it would be fun

The last few months have been relatively peaceful. 

Well, peaceful according to Thalia. Which, admittedly, isn’t a very good standard for peace, but it’s something. 

So when the woods glow gold around the campsite the Hunters set up somewhere north of the Canadian border, Thalia sighs and begins taking stock. They’ll need to be prepared and at full strength to face whatever task Artemis has for them. 

The task turns out to be Lycaon. That bastard. If she’s being honest, Thalia hadn’t known the full story of horrors until Artemis had showed up to enlighten them, but now she’s spoiling for a fight. The more she learns about the history of the gods, her history, the less she wants to be a part of it. 

But she doesn’t really have a choice there. 

The Hunters pack up camp and head south towards Detroit. It’s almost too easy to find him, Thalia thinks. His trail is too glaringly obvious, but then again, Artemis did give them the heads up. By the time the Hunters corner him, Lycaon has already cornered several people in a cave. Teenagers, as far as Thalia can tell. From this distance, there’s no way of telling whether they’re mortals or demigods or something else. Several of the Hunters make the case for killing all of them, as usual. Thalia shoots down that idea, as usual. 

Lycaon and his wolves each get several arrows to the neck. The human witnesses get arrows through their clothing, pinning them to the back corner of the cave. Thalia sends the rest of the Hunters off to follow Lycaon, leaving herself and Phoebe to deal with the people. 

Thalia approaches cautiously, Phoebe at her back. First order of business is to figure out if anyone was bitten. As they near the mouth of the cave, Thalia begins to hear someone shouting curses at them and demanding they show themselves and fight like men. Lovely. Probably not mortals, then. 

Before they can get any closer, a wall of fire spreads across the cave, forcing Thalia and Phoebe to retreat. There’s a faint smell of gasoline, and Thalia can see bursts of flame reigniting the wall of fire. She squints at the flames, trying to make out what’s happening on the other side. Two of the kids still seem to be pinned to the wall by arrows. Of the two who’ve managed to free themselves, only one has a sword, glinting golden in the firelight. The other, shorter one raises his hands and lobs a ball of fire in Thalia’s direction, which, what the fuck. She ducks and rolls away, coming up standing at the edge of the cave.

Phoebe’s sleeve is on fire, but she drops down and smothers it quickly in the snow. 

“Did he just shoot fire from his hands?” Phoebe says. 

“What the fuck,” Thalia says. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing she’s seen. But that leaves her at a loss. She’s never heard any stories about a monster or god who can create fire from nothing. 

Thalia doesn’t like being caught off-guard. 

“Okay,” she says. She nocks two arrows. Phoebe follows suit. “Don’t kill them.” 

Phoebe pouts. “Not even a little bit?” 

“Non-lethal force.” 

Phoebe grins. Non-lethal force means maiming if necessary. Thalia flicks her on the nose. 

She takes a deep breath to center herself, meets Phoebe’s eyes, and nods. Then she springs into action, rolling back in front of the mouth of the cave and coming up on one knee, releasing her arrows. The fire has died down, and it’s creator now has four arrows pinning him to the wall of the cave. The other short guy has managed to free himself and is brandishing what looks like a club. Thalia spins and kicks snow over the fire, slinging her bow on her back at the same time. She manages to put out enough of the fire to make a spot wide enough for her to run through and charges. Phoebe lets loose another two arrows, and the man with the club stumbles backwards, dropping his club and clutching his shoulder. 

Thalia jumps over the lowest section of flames and lands on the other side of the fire barrier. The guy with the club turns out to be a satyr, middle-aged with pale skin and a scraggly brown beard. Demigods, then. He flings his club at her, but he’s wounded. She ducks easily. There’s a girl with a blanket around her shoulders tugging at the arrow pinning her to the wall. Her mouth is moving, but Thalia can’t hear her over the shouting. The fire boy is struggling where he’s pinned to the wall, arrows through his clothes on both shoulders and both hands. The fourth boy is blond and in the middle of swinging his sword at her. She catches the blade with her knife. The heat at her back is less severe; Phoebe must be throwing more snow on the fire. She pushes back quickly with her knife, launching his sword to the side and throwing him off his balance. By the time he recovers, she has an arrow notched and aimed at his face. 

Phoebe is at her shoulder, now, the fire almost out, two arrows pointed towards the fire boy. The satyr is still shouting, and Thalia can hear the fire boy shouting at the satyr to “be quiet, you’re not helping.” 

The blond boy she was fighting is tense and breathing heavy. Suddenly, the girl stumbles forward, jacket and blanket torn at the shoulder. The blond boy uses the distraction to drop his sword and launch himself at Thalia, tackling her at the waist. Thalia goes down, bow and jacket catching fire. As the heat becomes uncomfortable, Phoebe kicks him in the stomach, hard, and hauls him off of her. Thalia rips off her jacket and tosses it towards the snow. She snarls, drawing her knife. 

Now, the fire boy and the satyr are both shouting, the fire boy pleading with them not to hurt them and the satyr screaming something that sounds like “let me at them,” despite the shoulder wound. 

Phoebe has the blond boy pinned to the ground on his stomach, arms behind his back. 

Thalia advances with her knife, intending to interrogate them, but the girl with the blanket puts herself between them and shouts, “Stop!” with such force that everyone falls silent, even the satyr. The girl is shaking and looks worse for wear. Thalia gets a good look at her for the first time. She’s pretty, she notices distantly: brown skin and warm brown eyes, dark hair falling out of braids. She has a dagger strapped to her side, but her hands are up, palms facing Thalia in the universal sign of surrender. 

“Stop fighting,” the girl says, calm as anything, and Thalia finds herself lowering her knife. 

She frowns and takes a moment to think. A satyr, a boy who can create fire, a girl with persuasive powers, and a boy with a golden sword - pure gold, not just a trick of the light. 

She sheaths her knife, and puts her palms up. 

The girl seems to relax. 

Thalia moves quicker than lighting and has an arrow pointed at the girls face the next second. 

“Don’t speak,” Thalia tells the girl. She maneuvers herself around the girl to where she can see Phoebe and the blond boy, keeping the arrow trained on the girl. 

“You, on the ground,” Thalia says. “You got any magic powers you want to share?” 

He glares at her, but says nothing. 

“Did anyone get bitten?” 

He continues to glare. His eyes are very blue. Phoebe twists his arm. 

“No,” he grits out.

“Please,” the girl says. 

Thalia lets the arrow fly. It whistles past the girl’s head, scratching the top of her ear. She notches another arrow. The girl presses her lips together. 

“Please,” the fire boy tries. “We don’t want to fight you.” Thalia glances his way and raises an eyebrow. “Um, anymore,” he says. 

The satyr grumbles in disagreement. Thalia ignores him. She studies the fire boy for a moment. He has light brown skin and curly black hair, dark eyes and a streak of grime on the left side of his face. All three of them, besides the satyr, can’t be more than sixteen. 

The girl kneels, palms still up. She makes a pleading face at Thalia, who sighs. 

“Give me your knife,” Thalia commands. The girl unsheathes it and slides it over. Thalia kicks it behind her. “Fine. Talk.” 

“We’re demigods,” the girl says. “We’re from Camp Half-Blood. We’re sorry for attacking you. We, uh, panicked.” Thalia raises an eyebrow again. 

“Hey, you guys started it,” the fire boy protests. The girl makes a pained face, but pushes forward. 

“You’re Thalia, right?” the girl says. The blonde boy on the ground makes a strangled noise. The girl continues, “Annabeth’s friend? Daughter of Zeus, Hunter of Artemis. I’m Piper, daughter of Aphrodite. We’re on a quest.” 

Thalia lowers her bow and narrows her eyes. “Why should I believe you?” 

“She isn’t lying,” the fire boy says. Phoebe glares at him. 

“You,” Thalia addresses the satyr. “I’ve never seen you before.” 

The satyr scowls. “I’ve never seen  _ you  _ before.” Which, okay, fair. 

“There are four of you,” she says. “Only three are allowed on quests.” 

“We picked him up in Chicago,” Piper says, gesturing towards the satyr. “He’d been captured.” 

“By who?” 

“Wind spirits. They gave him to Medea.”

Fuck. “Where’s Medea?” 

“Chicago. Well, actually, dead.” 

“How?” 

“We, uh, blew her up.” 

Thalia grins, shark-like. “Nice.” 

“Also, um, there’s something else you should know,” Piper says. Thalia looks at her expectantly. She points at the blond boy, “That’s Jason. Jason Grace.” 

Thalia lifts her bow again. “Can’t be,” she says. “He’s dead. Tell the truth” 

“It is the truth,” the blond boy says, sounding shaken. “It’s me. I’m your brother.” 

“My brother is dead,” she says through clenched teeth, but studies his face anyways. 

“I swear,” he says, and winces when Phoebe twists his arm again. “I’m not lying.” 

“Then how are you alive? Where have you been?” 

“I don’t know. Hera took my memories.” 

Thalia scowls, but lowers her bow again. She looks at Phoebe. “Let him up.” 

Phoebe looks reluctant, but releases his arms and gets up off his back. He sits up, rubbing his arms. He scowls at Phoebe, who bares her teeth in return. Thalia slings her bow on her back as Phoebe draws hers. Thalia rests a hand on her knife, and takes a moment to think.

It could be Jason. He’s the right age, has the right hair and eye color. But she’s still wary. It’s been so long, and she was so sure he was dead, and the gods can be cruel. 

“Phoebe,” she says. “Fix up the satyr. I need to talk to these three.” 

“Fix me?” the satyr exclaims. “She shot me!” 

“Sorry,” Phoebe says unconvincingly, walking over to haul him to his feet and drag him out of the cave. 

“She’s an excellent healer,” Thalia assures the room at large. Piper still isn’t looking too good, but that’s a problem for later. She and maybe-Jason are still sitting on the ground. Thalia picks up Piper’s knife and hands it back to her, then walks over to the fire boy and pulls the arrows out of the rock, freeing him. He glares at her, and she glares back. He tries not to cower. 

“And you are?” she says.

He blinks at her for a moment, surprised. “Leo,” he says eventually. 

“How’d you do that, with the fire?” she demands. 

“Um,” he says. “I can show you if you promise not to shoot me.” 

She takes a step back and nods. He holds out his hand and a small flame appears, dancing above his palm. 

“I’m a son of Hephaestus,” he explains. “I can control fire.” 

Interesting. That’s new. 

“Okay,” she says, face carefully blank. She turns around to face Piper and maybe-Jason. “What about you?” she asks Piper.

“I can’t control fire,” she says. 

Thalia rolls her eyes. “Your voice, or words.” 

“Oh. I can charmspeak.” 

Thalia looks at maybe-Jason. “And you?” 

He looks uncomfortable, but says, “I can fly. And summon lightning.” 

Thalia’s eyebrows hit her hairline. “You can fly?” 

“Can you?” 

“Never tried.” 

Silence falls as she stares at maybe-Jason and he stares back. Leo has moved to help Piper to her feet. She’s still shivering. He pulls her arm over his shoulders to support her. 

“Go see Phoebe,” Thalia says to the two of them. Leo frowns, but helps Piper limp out of the cave. 

When they’re gone, she sits down across from Jason and really looks at him. Blue eyes, the exact same shade as hers. The same blond hair her brother had when he was little, grown out a bit but still messy and spiky. Now that she’s at arms length, she can see the tiny scar on his lip. She breaks down, lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and slumps into herself. 

“It’s you,” she says. 

He gives her a hopeful smile. “It’s me.” 

“How the fuck are you alive?” she says in wonder.

“Once I remember, I’ll let you know.” 

“You really don’t remember anything? Nothing at all?” 

He shakes his head. “Woke up a few days ago on a school bus with Leo and Piper. And Coach Hedge.” 

“Who?” 

“Oh. The faun. Satyr.” 

Thalia frowns. “Faun?” 

“Roman word for satyr.” 

Something dawns on her, then. Pieces falling into place. Things she began to wonder about months ago.  _ Ah _ , she thinks.  _ Fuck _ .

She needs to talk to the Hunters. 

She hauls herself to her feet, and offers a hand to Jason. He takes it, and she pulls him to his feet and into a hug. He hesitates for a moment before wrapping his arms around her, melting into it. 

“Our mom told me you were dead,” she mumbles into his shoulder. 

Jason tenses. “What? Why?” 

“She said Hera claimed you. Took you. I looked for you, I swear. I called the cops on her, too, but you were just gone.” 

Jason pulls back, and Thalia’s heart breaks a little bit at his expression. 

“It’s complicated,” she says. “I’ll tell you everything, but we don’t have the time right now. We both need to keep moving.” 

Jason frowns. “Can’t you stay? Help us out?”

“I would if I could. I have to meet back up with the Hunters. Something else is going on, I can feel it.” 

“When we were at camp, Rachel said the next Great Prophecy had begun,” Jason says hesitantly. Thalia scowls again. 

“Figures,” she says. “Can’t fucking catch a break.” Jason snorts, as if he can relate. “Anyways,” Thalia continues, “Sorry for shooting at you. And for fighting you. And for Phoebe.” 

Jason manages a laugh. “It’s okay. You could argue we started it.” 

“I’ll argue Leo started it. You both owe Piper one.” 

Jason blushes, at that. He looks almost sheepish. “Yeah, that seems to be a pattern.” 

Thalia finds herself grinning. Piper is tough and stupid brave, she’ll give her that. 

“C’mon,” she says instead. “I should go apologize to them too.” 

She picks up the satyr’s club and starts walking out of the cave. Jason follows. Phoebe has set up temporary camp. Thalia pulls the tent flap aside and lets Jason go in first. Piper is in clean, dry clothes looking about ten times better than she did before, and the satyr - Coach Hedge, Jason had said - has been bandaged up and is sitting on a cushion in the corner looking rather angry. 

“Sorry for trying to kill you,” Thalia says to the room at large. Phoebe rolls her eyes. Leo and Piper share a glance. Coach Hedge mumbles something rude. 

To her credit, Piper speaks first, “Thanks for not killing us. And for the clothes. And for the first aid.”

She shoots a pointed look at Leo, who looks at the ground, but says, “Sorry about the whole throwing fire at you thing. We haven’t met a lot of friendly faces so far.” 

“We haven’t met  _ any _ friendly faces so far,” Jason says. “Except you guys.” 

Thalia walks over to Hedge and offers him his weapon. He snatches it out of her hands and mumbles something that might be a thank you, or maybe another insult. 

“Are you good?” Thalia says, addressing Piper and Leo. “I hate to rush you, but we have to catch up with Lycaon, and I’m sure you guys are on a tight schedule.” 

“How’d you know,” Jason says dryly. 

Thalia looks over her shoulder at him and grins. “Oh, you know. Quests are always leisurely.” 

Piper snorts, and Leo sighs. Hedge still looks unhappy, but Thalia’s beginning to realize that’s just his default state. 

“Alright,” she claps her hands together. “Let’s get moving.” 

Phoebe breaks down the tent and slides it in her pocket, much to Leo’s awe. 

Thalia pulls Jason into another hug, says quietly, “I’ll see you again soon, I promise.” 

He hugs her back and nods, his chin moving up and down against her forehead. Of course he’s taller than her. Of course. 

She steps away from him and forces a smile. She shakes Piper’s hand. The girl has a firm handshake and a firm set to her jaw. Thalia likes her. 

“Be safe,” Thalia says. “Kick ass.” 

She earns a smile from Leo, for that. “Yes ma’am,” he says. 

Phoebe touches Thalia’s shoulder lightly and jerks her head to the west. Thalia grimaces, then spares one last glance at Jason. His eyes meet hers, and he smiles grimly. She nods, then turns her back to him and follows Phoebe into the blizzard. 


End file.
